Frequently Asked Stage Manager Questions

As a stage manager, on the day of a conference, while running a stage, you or a panellist may run into some issues navigating Webex. Here are some common issues and how to resolve them.

1. Screen Sharing: Webex In Event Controls
2. Screen Sharing: Switch Screens in Keynote & Powerpoint
3. Webex Controls Disappear
4. The stage is full and Attendees can't join

1. Screen Sharing: Webex In Event Controls 

When someone shares their screen, they will get an orange border around the edge of their screen along with a piece of text at the top to say “You’re sharing your screen’. This is only visible to the person sharing their screen. 

If a person has two screens (i.e. their laptop and a monitor), the orange border makes it easy to identify which screen they are actually sharing.

Be aware that when sharing a screen, the Webex view changes. The in meeting controls are hidden along the top. 

Hover over the top of the screen, and a toolbar will pop down like in the picture below.

From this toolbar you can stop sharing, open the chat and participant panel, etc. When the chat & participant panels are opened, they will appear on the screen, however, they are only visible to the presenter. No one else in the event can see them.

As a Stage Manager, you may have a presenter sharing their screen, confused by where to find the in event controls. It’s good to be familiar with what they see so you can assist them. 

Note: Be aware that everything on the screen you share is visible to those watching. This includes but is not limited to bookmark bars, open tabs, and notifications that pop up/slide in. These notifications could include social media, WhatsApp, personal email and other DMs like Slack. Consider turning off notifications and removing any personal or private information ahead of the stage day you're hosting.

2. Screen Sharing: Switch Screens in Keynote & Powerpoint

When using keynote to present, and a presenter has two screens (i.e. their laptop and a monitor), you may be sharing the presenter view (what slides are coming next along with a timer). Simply click on ‘Switch Displays’ in the right corner. 

This will switch the displays and share the correct screen. 

If this occurs when using Powerpoint, click ‘Swap Displays’ in the left hand corner. 

3. Webex Controls Disappear

Sometimes if you use PowerPoint slides and you have two monitors, PowerPoint will go full screen on both monitors and give you the public view on one screen and the presenter view on the other. 

As a Stage Manager, this can be problematic if you want to share a welcome slide, but you also want to be able to see and manage your chat panel, panelists panel, etc. as PowerPoint in full screen mode will prevent you from getting at your Webex controls. 

The easiest way to fix this is to prevent PowerPoint from going into Full Screen mode on both screens (essentially disabling "Presenter View"). You can do this in PowerPoint by going here: Slide Show > Set Up Slide Show > Check: "Browsed at a kiosk (full screen)" > Choose "Slide Show Monitor" to determine which screen the slide show will appear on.

If for whatever reason, you’re still finding accessing Webex problematic, you can choose the other option "Browsed by an individual (window)" which will prevent PowerPoint from going full screen altogether.

4. The Stage is full and Attendees can't join

Live stages have 1,000 attendee capacity. Occasionally it may happen that your stage is full and further attendees are prevented from joining. If an attendee tries to join a stage that’s full, they’ll see this error message: “The Conference is Full. You Cannot be Added to the Conference”. If this happens, it's worth recommending that they wait a few minutes and try to join again, as someone may leave in the meantime.